SOU gives Fritts 100th coaching win

ASHLAND — Southern Oregon used one big inning in each game to claim a Cascade Collegiate Conference softball doubleheader sweep over Northwest on Friday, defeating the Eagles 9-2 and 6-3 on a sunny afternoon at University Field.

Comment

MailTribune.com

Writer

Posted Mar. 16, 2013 at 12:20 AM
Updated Mar 16, 2013 at 3:20 AM

Posted Mar. 16, 2013 at 12:20 AM
Updated Mar 16, 2013 at 3:20 AM

» Social News

ASHLAND — Southern Oregon used one big inning in each game to claim a Cascade Collegiate Conference softball doubleheader sweep over Northwest on Friday, defeating the Eagles 9-2 and 6-3 on a sunny afternoon at University Field.

The Raiders' first win of the day was the 100th of coach Kim Fritts' career. The SOU head coach became the second coach in program history to reach triple figures, and is now eight behind Larry Binney's school record of 109 victories.

Jessica Flores led the way with four hits for the Raiders (9-10, 5-1 CCC), while Sierra Anderson and Irene Barrantes each finished the day with three hits. Hannah Ganfield led Northwest with three hits.

Karlie Stephens claimed the win for the Raiders in the opener, limiting Northwest (2-16, 0-6) to one earned run on five hits with seven strikeouts in the complete game. Kelli Peckham took the loss.

PACIFIC MULTI-EVENT — At Forest Grove, Southern Oregon's Brandon Ritchie finished 40 points shy of the decathlon title to lead a trio of Raiders at the Pacific Multi-Event Friday afternoon at Lincoln Park Stadium.

Ritchie totaled 5,965 points to place second behind Seth Buck (6,004) and ahead of third-place Aaron Koford (5,718) and fourth-place competitor Ezekiel Smith (5,509). He began the day with a first-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles, posting a time of 15.83 seconds.

Ritchie followed that with a fourth-place throw of 106-feet, 2-inches in the discus and a second-place mark of 12-11 1/2 in the pole vault. A ninth-place javelin throw of 109-3 gave way to another event title as he closed out the competition with a first-place time of 4:50.77 in the 1,500-meter run.

Amelia Maguin concluded her first heptathlon with a fifth-place point total of 4,099. After concluding Thursday's competition with a first-place finish in the 200, Maguin tallied a pair of top-three finishes on Friday. She placed third in the long jump with a mark of 16-7 1/4.

The javelin came next, with Maguin placing sixth with a 96-7 toss before ending the day with a third-place time of 2:32.12 in the 800. Nicole Leaf placed 11th in the long jump (14-3 1/4), 10th in the javelin (68-7) and 12th in the 800 (2:51.18) to finish 12th overall with 2,832 total points.

With the trio of Ritchie, Maguin and Leaf finished with competition for the week, the rest of the SOU team will compete today at the Sacramento State Hornet Invitational.

OREGON STATE 6, ARIZONA 2 — At Tucson, Ariz., Michael Conforto hit a three-run home run and Matt Boyd limited Arizona to two hits and two runs in seven innings to pace third-ranked Oregon State to a win over 20th-ranked Wildcats to open Pac-12 Conference play.

The win pushed Oregon State to a 17-1 mark while Arizona dropped to 15-6.

Conforto staked the Beavers to the 3-0 lead before Arizona could register an out in the first inning. Max Gordon reached on a single, and Tyler Smith was hit by a pitch, setting the table for Conforto. The sophomore hit a towering fly that cleared the fence in left for his fifth home run of the season.

Boyd, meanwhile, held perhaps the Pac-12's hottest offensive club to just two hits and two runs — one earned — over seven innings in his first career start against a league foe. He earned the win to improve to 4-0 this season.

Boyd improved to 6-0 in seven career starts and the lefty is 5-0 in March in 20 appearances, lowering his earned run average in the month to 1.69.

OREGON 5, USC 2 — At Los Angeles, Brett Thomas, Scott Heineman and J.J. Altobelli combined for six hits and three RBIs to lead Oregon to a win over USC in the Pac-12 opener for both teams at Dedeaux Field.

Thomas and Altobelli both went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Heineman was 2-for-5 with a run batted in. Desmond Santos and Shaun Chase both added an RBI in the win.

Jake Reed (2-3) picked up the win allowing two runs on five hits over seven innings. Jimmie Sherfy got his sixth save pitching the ninth inning.

Oregon and USC will meet in Game 2 of the three-game series today at 2 p.m.